Dave, Good article, it definately has my blood pumping to hit the Potomac this year a couple times with musky being the target. I've seen several of the beasts cruising and blowing up bait out there, and I've finally got the equiptment (Canoe) to cover some water. If you find any articles or information on Musky fly fishing rigs please share it. I have an eight weight rod and I am assuming a 50 lbs flourocarbon tippet with large clousers or even popping bugs would work, but I am not real sure. I guess we'll have to do some field research.

3wt, I wouldn't recommend buying 50lb flouro - gonna cost a lot and I don't think it's necessary. A basic bass leader with 20lb class tippet is fine. We've had some debate on this forum whether wire is better than heavy mono for bite tippets for toothy critters like muskies or cudas. While opionions differ, I'm firmly in the prefers wire category. I tie my muskie flies and lures with a short bite tippet of #60 wire using a crimp tool. I'll hook you up with some of these and some wire next time we get together. I usually get out at least once or twice in the winter months to pursue river muskies - typically the Juniata River with conventional tackle. This is mostly shore wade fishing but the Potomac has some good spots too, typically where a feeder creek comes in. I think you know where I'm talking about It's no secret with the local muskie guys. Right now, the weather is awfully rough, we need a warming trend to clear some of the ice.

We're now currently seeing some good conditions for river muskie fishing. The recent warming spell has taken the ice off the larger, warm water rivers down here in the central part of the state. Levels are high but dropping and, if we don't see a return of heavy precipitation or prolonged sub freezing temps, rivers like the Susky, Juniata, Allegheny, or Potomac should fish well for muskies (and maybe a walleye or two).

Well darn....My winter muskie excursion will have to go to the backburner for awhile. The Susky at Sunbury is within a few feet of flood stage this morning. I don't mind fishing high, stained water but the current conditions will need to come down to the point where the rivers are out of the trees and back in their banks before they'll be fishable.

Truth be told, conditions have been tough the last few months. The last couple weeks have been decent but the few days I've been out fishing it's been with trout guys. With the coming precip, the big rivers will be lousy again for awhile. I still think a canoe/kayak float trip this summer to the North Br Susky would be a blast and would likely be better timed to good conditions. I've got a whole box of muskie flies ready for some ripping!

Fredrick wrote:Well we did a lot of talking this winter now are we gonna back it up ?

Yep, today! With all the streams blown out and the local put and take lake completely ice free for a couple days, I thought I would scout and try out the new water skeeter float tube. I went to moraine state park and was greeted by ice fisherman. Not what I was hopin' for!Thought if I could find some open water in a back bay, it would likely be the warmest water in the lake. I found some. I kicked up three muskies that I saw and a couple more plumes of mud that were some kind of fish taking off. I had cast over the muskies before each one they took off....they obviously weren't interested in chasing. I worked a good ways down the bank fishing primarily in 1-3 feet of water. I hooked one muskie while fishing my way back. It jumped, I bowed, it stayed hooked. Not huge, but it was a nice 30"-35" fish. It made another run, then the line went slack. Nice to connect, though! So start looking in the shallows of your local still waters!

Great report David. Were you fly fishing and if so what sort of fly did yuh nail him on? Did he bite you off or just shake the hook?They're definitely out there and usually active in cold water. The pike are in really shallow these days too - often right up against the bankside cover at ice out.

Would it be safe to say that most muskies are caught by fly fishers at this time of year?

My rational would be that they are easier to find because most of the lake would be iced over, thereby limiting where one can fish for them and the fact they are searching for the shallow warmer water and close to shore where fly fishers have a real shot at them.

acristickid wrote:Would it be safe to say that most muskies are caught by fly fishers at this time of year?

Your theory that muskies are more vulnerable this time of year to FFers makes sense, but I really doubt that at ANY time are there even remotely as many muskies caught FFing compared to conventional tackle. It's not even close. The only possible exception might be opening day of trout season when some muskies, usually small, are always caught by accident in lakes or large streams that are stocked with trout. I remember some years ago a WCO who was patrolling on opening day a small lake here in central PA that was stocked with trout reported seeing three or four small muskies caught by the trout fisherman who were lining the banks. Even in this case however I think they were all caught on spin tackle.There are certainly some hard core musky FFers and their numbers are growing but it is still a very small core of enthusiasts - most of them residing in Wisconsin.